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Chest Heart rate strap

Elite Cyclist
over 5 years ago

Is it true the chest heart rate strap is more accurate than a wrist  heart rate? Does a chest heart rate strap has to be a garmin brand?  It seems the Garmin brand is more pricier.  Does Instinct is compatible with other brands?

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    Yes, the wrist sensor is nearly useless.  When running mine has consistently run 20-30 beats high with wild fluctuations.  The Garmin HRM strap is a must.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Chris
    Chris said:
    Yes, the wrist sensor is nearly useless.

    I would not generalize. It is rather individual. I am personally very satisfied with the accuracy of Instinct, and although I admit HRM belts may be superior in some aspects, and are a usefull accessory, I cannot imagine wearing a chest strap 24/7, or at many types of activities, like I do with the watch.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to gaijin
    gaijin said:
    The OHRM is not capable of measuring HRV, but the chest HRM is.  When an OHRM is used, the HRV is estimated, not measured; while the chest HRM uses an actual measurement

    This is actually an outdated claim. There are indeed some older articles being sceptical about the ability of OHRM to measure HRV (for example this one from 2015: Hardware for HRV: what sensor should you use?), but more recent serious and peer reviewed scientific papers have shown that photoplethysmography is quite well suited for measuring HRV. Have a look for example at the paper from the last year (2019): Heart Rate Variability with Photoplethysmography in 8 Million Individuals. Although they used Fitbit devices for the research, I firmly believe Garmin is not worse. In the comparative tests I saw, Garmin's HRM results were usually superior in comparison to Fitbit.

    If you want to check the paper without reading through the boring data, skip directly to the chapter Discussion on page 8.

    However, the claim from the first article, speaking about challenges of OHRM at motion (variability of fit, light, and possibly also of blood stream due to the arm motion), is on my mind still valid, and is perhaps also the reason why it works with some individuals better and with others worse. A proper fit, position, and stable blood stream (i.e. no peripheal vasoconstriction) are important for good OHRM data. At rest, the OHRM should be typically much less problematic.